Staring You Right in the Face
by HarmsstaR
Summary: Sometimes you don't see what's staring you right in the face. Everyone else seems to know what’s going on in you life, yet you always seem to be the last one to realize it. This is how it was before InuYasha and I admited our love to one another.
1. Chapter One: The War is Over

**Staring You Right in the Face**

**Chapter One: The War is Over**

By Harmsstar

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Disclaimer: I friggin _wish_ I owned InuYasha, unfortunatly that honor goes to Takahashi Rumiko, the great and powerful!

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Sometimes you don't see what's staring you right in the face. Everyone else seems to know what's going on in your life, yet you always seem to be the last one to realize it. Our own personal insecurities appear to always keep us from seeing the truth. This is how it was before InuYasha and I admitted our love for one another. 

It was a day unlike any other day. Dust was settling over the bloody battlefield, like snow. The war was finally over.

I crouched down next to the decomposing remains of the once all-powerful half demon Naraku, and reached into the gore that was his body, to retrieve the tainted form of the completed Shikon No Tama. I held the Jewel of Four Souls close to my breast and cleared my mind in order to purify it. The jewel had been so defiled by the evil encompassed in the soul of Naraku, that it took almost every ounce of strength I had to purge the stone. Halfway through, I had to stop, my concentration waning. My vision was blurring and I needed a moment to regain my focus.

I looked down at the jewel in my hands, crawling with darkness, but still much less soiled than before. My vision then wandered to the people that had become like a second family to me over the past four years. My eyes first fell upon Miroku, the lecherous monk. His Kazaana had almost destroyed him and everyone else this day, but it had also provided us with enough time to deliver the final blow. He stood, staring at his hand, now healed of the curse that had laid on his family for three generations. Standing companionably close to him was Sango, the Taijiya, her Hiraikotsu slung carelessly across her back and her pet fire cat, Kirara sitting primly on her shoulder. She looked from Miroku's hand to catch my eyes. A gentle smile graced her lips as she reached down to take the hand of her resurrected brother Kohaku.

Kohaku stared in disbelief at the stoic white form of the Inu-Yokai lord, Sesshomaru. He still had his Tensaiga drawn. He had used the healing sword on the demon slayers brother in retribution for Kohaku's selfless display of courage.

In the heat of battle, Kohaku, with his recently re-acquired memories, had thrown himself in front of one of Naraku's blasts of energy. Thus, saving the Inu-Yokai's ward, Rin from being brutally killed. A smirk twitched on my lips as Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, took Sango's lead and reached down to grasp Rin's tiny hand in his. Jaken, vassal of the White Lord, gaped at his magnate's display of affection for the Ninjen child; then looked around him for the Staff of Two Heads that he had carried since he had come under the service of his Lord. Timidly, Shippou, the orphaned kitsune, bowed his head in an unexpected form of respect and presented Jaken with his staff.

Shippou had actually surprised everyone this day. His Fox-Fire attack coupled with his Multiply spell provided just the distraction InuYasha needed to unleash his Kaze-No-Kizu. A little ways away from Shippou, stood the Wind Sorceress, Kagura. In the end she had betrayed Naraku and let us know of his whereabouts. This betrayal for the good and the just allowed her to regain the heart that Naraku held from her since her creation. She had stood strong and fought valiantly alongside us. I smiled at her and gave a slight bow of my weary head to express my gratitude and friendship. She seemed confused by my gesture at first, but quickly realized the meaning and flashed a slight smirk back at me.

Finally my sweeping gaze fell on my InuYasha. His eyes locked on mine, and I felt a gush of emotion. His body was covered in the blood of the thousands of Yokai he had slain, and his own as well. He was scathed and bruised, and had a rather large gaping wound just below the left side of his ribcage. But his eyes...his molten gold eyes...they shone with triumph! And something else...was it...love? No…it couldn't be.

In that moment he was utterly beautiful to me. My breath hitched in my throat at the sight of him. I fell in love with this beautiful man in front of me all over again in that one perfect moment. The intensity in that golden gaze floored me, and became an almost tangible thing. In his right hand he gripped the hilt of the Tetsusaiga. The legendary fanged sword had reverted to its untransformed state, looking like nothing more than a worn and rusted Katana. In his left hand he clutched a white silk ribbon that had been stained with blood.

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Before the battle, Kikyo had shown up at our camp, just outside of the miasma surrounding Naraku's palace. To my dismay, she wished to speak to InuYasha...alone. It was times like this that I wished that I possessed InuYasha's extraordinary hearing. When he came back, I was surprised to see him alone, grasping the white ribbon in his clawed hand. 

"Kagome, we need to talk," he said to me gruffly.

He took me out a little ways from camp to avoid curious ears. He told me that Kikyo was tired of living this imitation of existence, and she finally realized that things could never be the same for them. And frankly, she yearned for the calm dim and absolving calm of the afterlife. But the main reason she came was to return the portion of my soul that kept her chained to this life. She said I would need my complete soul intact before we attempted to take on Naraku or all would be lost.

She reached out her cold dry hand for his and he tentatively grasped hers.

"Tell Kagome that she is a worthy reincarnation, if things had been different, I could have called her friend." She removed the ribbon from her hair. "Take this, InuYasha and promise to never forget me."

"Kikyo," he whispered.

She leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on his lips, but as soon as they touched, her body crumbled and she floated away like ash into the night.

After he told me this I was speechless. But the look of loss on my Hanyou's features tore at my heart like nothing ever had before, and I took his hand in mine. Then he did something I had never expected him to do. He moved close to me and just laid his head on my shoulder. After a quick moment of shock, I reciprocated by putting my arm around his back and resting my chin on his head between his ears. We stayed that way for almost four hours, not saying a word.

Now, one night later, I focused my eyes directly upon the glorious man in front of me, and slow as seasons, I blinked at him, sending out the love I felt for him and for all of them. They were my friends, my comrades, my kindred spirits and my family. That's what they had become to me. And it was a gift. I focused all of that feeling up and out of my body and tried to fill the jewel with its pure essence. At once I was surrounded with warmth and light. The Shikon-No-Tama burned with an intensity that seemed to shame the setting sun. The radiance softened and spread out and over us all, absorbing the pure feeling of love, companionship and Triumph.

Then all of a sudden it got dark...

Or was it my eyes closing...

And why do I feel like...

I'm falling down...

Down, down...

Into chaos.

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Authors Note: Well, I hope you liked this chapter. At first I only planned on this being a one shot, but i couldnt let it be as easy as defeating Naraku and then purifying the Jewel. I wanted this to be a love story. But there will still be a little drama first. A little action too. Just when you thought the war was over... 

Please Read and Review. It makes me type fater. Believe me, the next chapter will be worth it. One word...Midoriko.


	2. Chapter Two: Or has it

**Disclaimer: I fricken _WISH_ i owned InuYasha, but i don't. that honour goes to the GREAT Takahashi Rumiko.**

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Staring You Right in the Face

**Chapter Two: Or Has It Only Just Begun**

By Harmsstar

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I awoke to the thunderous roar of a thousand demons. Where am I? Where are InuYasha and the others? I stood up from the hard and jagged ground only to trip again and fall crashing to my knees on the crystalline terrain. When I rose and brushed myself off, I looked at my surroundings and realized I must be _inside_ the Sacred Jewel. Overhead loomed the perfect sphere of the Shikon, its soft pink glow diffused only by the presence of an evil and ominous miasma. 

It was then that I heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat behind me. I slowly turned around with the dawning horror that I was completely unarmed. There stood the form of a beautiful, yet battle weary woman. She was dressed in the Traditional garb of a Miko, with the addition of a set of scarred and ancient Samurai armor. I threw caution to the wind and asked her, "Who are you?"

"Child, I am Midoriko, priestess of the Shikon-No-Tama. I have been waiting for you for a long time, Kagome." She said over the roar of the Yokai.

"But… how do you know my name?" I asked. The priestess only chuckled in response, making her old and worn armor rattle in the thickening fog.

"I know many things about you, Kagome. Your fate and mine have been entwined for centuries." She replied.

"What do you want from me?" I asked uncertainly.

"I need your help. I have been trapped here in this battle for so long now, and I am tired of fighting. You are the only one who can save me." She said with a soft sigh.

"What can _I_ possibly do to help you?" I asked, staring into her lonely eyes.

"Purify us and set me free. You are the only Miko in existance to have such a strong balace of the four souls in your heart, the only one spiritually strong enough to despell the evil within this Jewel. Quickly, there coming again." She said with slight tremble of fear in her voice. "I don't know how much longer I can hold them off."

Just then a hoard of demons came at us with all the ferocity of a hurricane. I yelped and sank back down to my knees as they streamed all around us.

"Kagome, please I can't do this on my own!" she yelled.

Slowly I stood, facing the accumulating mass of demonic forms, and I tried to fill my heart and mind with the same feeling of love and triumph I had felt before falling into the jewel. Ahead of me Midoriko swung her sword, releasing her holy purifying energy from its rusting tip. The front line of Demons perished only as more joined in at the back. Focus Kagome, Focus, I mentally berated myself.

"Kagome, you need to picture the thing you love the most," She said in-between swinging at the onslaught closing in around us. "Please Kagome!" There was now an urgency and a pleading in Midoriko's voice that I couldn't ignore.

Ok Kagome, think! Damn it, focus! I closed my eyes tightly and tried to picture the thing I loved the most. First, I thought about my mother, and how no matter what, she was always there to support me. I thought of Jii-chan and how he got that special twinkle in his eye whenever he told someone about the history of our Shrine. I thought of my brother Souta, who always remembered to pick up my homework for me, and who was always willing to protect my secret. At this point, the same bright light that shone from the Shikon started shining forth from me.

"Keep going Kagome, your doing it!" she shouted against the clank of metal on hard flesh.

My focus didn't waiver for a moment this time. I thought of Sango, and how she had become a sister to me. How we could tell each other anything, and it only stood to strengthen our friendship. I thought of Miroku who had taught me to harness my spiritual powers, and also how to laugh in the face of adversity. Kirara, who was always a source of protection and comfort, and little Shippou, who just loved me for me, no matter what. The light within me intensified to the point where my closed eyelids began to burn in its radiance.

"Kagome, you're so close. Hurry!" she said while swinging her sword in a broad sweep.

I looked deep within myself and conjured the vision of InuYasha standing triumphantly in the glow of the setting sun. His eyes were before me, shining like honeyed amber, his silver hair blowing in the wind. I felt the love and passion that I had held in my heart for him spreading and filling my body to overflowing. Yes, this felt so incredibly right. _He_ is what I loved the most. Any doubt that clouded my aura vanished without a trace and I was filled with a euphoria I had never felt before. The energy pulsed inside of me and grew even more intense. I couldn't contain it any longer.

"Kagome, NOW!" She screamed.

"InuYasha!" I cried. And with that cry came forth all of the energy that had filled my mind and soul. It shot out of my body with the force of a tsunami, wiping the demons within the Jewel into the realm of inexistence.

The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the form of Midoriko. "Thank you," she whispered. Then all was darkness.

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Thanks for all your reviews, keep em comin' 


	3. Chapter 3: Always

**Chapter Three: Always**

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When I came to, I found that I was too weak to even move. It took me almost twenty minutes just to force my eyes to open. When my heavy lids slowly slid up, I found myself laying on a futon in Kaede's hut. A fire burned low in the hearth, and cast its dim glow upon my sleeping hanyou. He was seated against the wall a few feet from where I lay. His Tetsusaiga rested on his shoulder in the ancient samurai sleeping stance.

"I-Inu-InuYasha," I croaked.

His eyes slid open quickly and he fixed me with a concerned gaze.

"Kagome," he said quietly.

I cleared my throat and blinked hard to regain my bearings. "InuYasha," I said slowly. "H-how did I get here?"

"I carried you," he stated simply. "You've been unconscious for almost a week now. We weren't sure if you were gonna make it. "

I groaned and tried to roll on my side to see him better, and I felt a sharp pain sting across my chest and the back of my head. He was at my side in an instant.

"Don't, Kagome. You're still really weak. You shouldn't try to move yet," he said tenderly, as he tucked a stray hair behind my ear. I smiled up at him shyly, and he blushed a deep crimson at the realization of what he had just done. He muttered something that sounded like sorry and moved to resume his position a few feet away from me. I stopped him by lifting a shaky hand and placing it on his. He looked at me through his gorgeous silver bangs. I tried to raise my hand to brush them out of his face, but my strength gave out and it slumped back down across my stomach.

"InuYasha, what happened?" I asked him.

"You don't remember?" He asked. There seemed to be a trace of remorse in his question.

"The last thing I remember," I told him, "Was trying to purify the jewel. And then…and then…"

"And then what?" He asked me.

"And then I woke up here…but, there's something else too. Something that's just on the edge of my memory. It's like when you wake up from a really vivid dream and you can't remember it, but you _can_ remember the feeling of it, ya know?" I was silent for a moment before going on. "Maybe if you told me what happened, it would come back to me."

"Well," he started, "The second time you purified the jewel, all this light started coming out of it and it grew really big. Then it sort of…swallowed you up."

I somewhat recalled what he was saying. Not the part about the jewel growing, but defiantly the sense of being swallowed by something larger than myself. "Go on," I urged him.

"We could just barely see what was happening inside the jewel, and only I could actually hear what was going on." He paused. "Then Midoriko showed up and told you to purify all those Yokai." His voice got low and husky as he continued. "She told you to think about the thing you loved the most."

InuYasha looked down at his clawed hands, at a loss of words for once.

"And?" I urged, regaining enough strength to prop myself up slightly.

"And…" he repeated, trailing off. He slowly raised his head and looked me in the eyes. The desperate yearning for acceptance was clearly written across his features, and his golden eyes reflected all the loneliness and solitude he had faced over the years. "And," he said again. I gave him an imploring nod of my head, urging him to go on.

"Then you purified them all." He stated.

All of a sudden the memory of my experience inside the Shikon-No-Tama came rushing back to me. The vision of the noble priestess, Midoriko flashed before my eyes. I saw myself filling with light, and I seemed to gain back a little of the physical strength I had lost in the battle. I then saw myself getting swallowed by the light, as I screamed InuYasha's name to the four winds. When the vision cleared, I sat myself up a little more, InuYasha's name still chanting like a mantra in my brain.

He had fixed me with a worried look, seeing that I was visibly shaken. "Kagome, maybe you should rest now. You need to build up your strength."

"That's not all you heard, is it, InuYasha?" I asked with a boldness I didn't think I had in me.

The gaze of desperate longing in his face halted my breath. "Did you really mean it?" He asked in a tiny voice that was not his own.

I brought my hand to his cheek and lightly brushed my thumb against the corner of his mouth. He sucked in a tiny ragged breath and held it when my thumb made contact with his tender lips.

"Did I mean what?" I asked.

"That I was the thing you loved the most ," he whispered with averted eyes.

I used the hand that rested on his face to pull his gaze back to mine. Through my eyes I tried to project all the love that had laid unspoken inside of me over the past few years. I blinked, releasing a single sparkling tear. He reached out with one clawed hand and rubbed it off my skin, laying his hand gently to cup my cheek. He locked my eyes with a soul searching glance. I raised my hand again to cover his, pulling it slightly away from my face. I closed my eyes and turned my head to place a soft, gentle kiss on his palm.

After a moment, he took his hands away from my lips and studied it, realizing that some of my aura had attached itself to him through the kiss. He took in a quick gasping breath. Apparently he had forgotten to breathe for a moment. He looked up at me, slightly embarrassed.

"InuYasha, you have always been the thing I love the most," I said softly to him.

His eyes widened in disbelief as I brushed my mouth against his lightly. I pulled back and searched his eyes to make sure that this is what he wanted too; however his eyes were securely locked on my mouth. He ran his tongue slowly over his lips to taste what mine had left behind.

"Kagome," He moaned as his hands tangled in my hair and he pressed his lips to mine. I wrapped my weary arms around him and gently pulled him down against me, as he drank from my mouth. His lips parted slightly as he shifted his weight next to me, rather than on top of me. I took that opportunity and slipped my tongue between his warm lips to run along his teeth. He gasped at the intimacy of my gesture and opened his mouth wider to allow further exploration. The texture of his tongue surprised me as it began a slow dance with mine. It was the most intense feeling I had ever experienced. I moved my arms so they could wrap around his back. As I deepened the kiss even more, I ran my fingernails in slow swirling patters across his back and felt him shudder. He held me tightly, and I moved my lips to trail sweet kisses down his jaw line and onto his throat. I stopped when I felt the pulse point on his neck and gently sucked, grazing my teeth over his pulsing flesh. I heard and felt a rather dog-like whimper ensue from him. I looked up at his face in time to catch a tear slipping out of the corner of his eye.

"Kagome, that was…I…I never…" He trailed off, his voice hitching slightly. "I never knew this would feel so… right."

"I love you InuYasha," I said simply, through swollen lips. And at that moment all of the loneliness and pain was erased from his ethereal eyes. He buried his head in the crook of my neck and placed a lingering kiss there.

"I love you too, Kagome," he whispered against me.

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AN. Ok, so i have a dillemma...Do i continue this story, or leave it as is. I think this is a very good place to end this, but i feel like there is a lemon inside me just waiting to come out. So send me a review telling me what you think.


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